{"id":621956,"date":"2026-08-05T15:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/621956\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T15:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:06:10","slug":"have-your-say-what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-deposit-return-scheme-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/621956\/","title":{"rendered":"Have your say: What are your thoughts on the Deposit Return Scheme? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Re-turn<\/a>, set up in 2022 by beverage producers to manage Ireland\u2019s Deposit Return Scheme<\/a>, has paid out total compensation of \u20ac700,000<\/a> to chief executive Ciar\u00e1n Foley and private sector executives who sit on its board.<\/p>\n

The not-for-profit company has faced pressure from Opposition politicians to disclose the remuneration paid to its top staff.<\/p>\n

The Deposit Return Scheme was launched in early 2024 in an attempt to increase recycling rates and reduce waste, but faced a rocky start<\/a>. Pricewatch readers wrote in to express frustrations<\/a> with the scheme, while Liveline listeners took to the phones<\/a> about costs and the hassle. <\/p>\n

There have been concerns raised around littering, with Dublin City Council suggesting limiting access to the scheme to individuals with registered domestic waste collection contracts<\/a> in a bid to reduce \u201copportunistic\u201d bin scavenging.<\/p>\n

However, the numbers using the scheme have increased year-on-year. Advocates point to a significant increase in recycling as a result of the scheme\u2019s introduction. Some 1.4 billion cans and bottles were returned last year<\/a>, up from 877 million in 2024. The return rate rose from 53.9 to 76.4 per cent.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The trouble with the Deposit Return Scheme: \u2018They\u2019re sitting on a pile of unclaimed deposits\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

If you have thoughts around the scheme, The Irish Times would like to hear them. <\/p>\n

Do you see it as a positive force for recycling cans and bottles? Have you used the service in large and small retailers? How have you found using the machines? Are you a retailer and how have you found machine maintenance? <\/p>\n

Have you noticed an increase in people looking through bins, or seen an increase in rubbish being removed from bins and scattered on footpaths in search of returnable bottles and cans? Do you think the environmental benefits outweigh any possible negatives?<\/p>\n

You can let us know what you think using the form below. Please limit your submissions to 400 words or less. Please include a phone number for verification purposes only. We will keep your contact details confidential. If you would prefer to remain anonymous in any published articles, please indicate this in your submission.<\/p>\n

We will curate a selection of submissions for an article but please note we may not publish every submission we receive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Re-turn, set up in 2022 by beverage producers to manage Ireland\u2019s Deposit Return Scheme, has paid out total…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,46093,18,102554,19,17],"class_list":["post-621956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-deposit-return-scheme","tag-eire","tag-have-your-say","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117043526863517738","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}